// utility function to retrieve an expiration data in proper format;
function getExpDate(days, hours, minutes){
    var expDate = new Date();
    if(typeof(days) == "number" && typeof(hours) == "number" && typeof(hours) == "number"){
        expDate.setDate(expDate.getDate() + parseInt(days));
        expDate.setHours(expDate.getHours() + parseInt(hours));
        expDate.setMinutes(expDate.getMinutes() + parseInt(minutes));
        return expDate.toGMTString();
    }
}

//utility function called by getCookie()
function getCookieVal(offset){
    var endstr = document.cookie.indexOf(";", offset);
    if(endstr == -1){
        endstr = document.cookie.length;
    }
    return unescape(document.cookie.substring(offset, endstr));
}

// primary function to retrieve cookie by name
function getCookie(name){
    var arg = name + "=";
    var alen = arg.length;
    var clen = document.cookie.length;
    var i = 0;
    while(i < clen)
    {
        var j = i + alen;
        if (document.cookie.substring(i, j) == arg)
        {
            return getCookieVal(j);
        }
        i = document.cookie.indexOf(" ", i) + 1;
        if(i == 0) break;
    }
    return;
}

// store cookie value with optional details as needed
function setCookie(name, value, expires, path, domain, secure){
    document.cookie = name + "=" + escape(value) +
        ((expires) ? "; expires=" + expires : "") +
        ((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") +
        ((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") +
        ((secure) ? "; secure" : "");
}

// remove the cookie by setting ancient expiration date
function deleteCookie(name,path,domain){
    if(getCookie(name)){
    	var date=new Date();
    	date.setTime(date.getTime()-10000);
        document.cookie = name + "=" +
            ((path) ? "; path=" + path : "") +
            ((domain) ? "; domain=" + domain : "") +
            "; expires="+date.toGMTString()+"";
    }
}